Inspiration and Perspiration

  Thomas Alva Edison famously said, in 1902, that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.  When it comes to me and cardmaking, a beautiful card is about 28% searching for a great idea which will lend itself to the (too many--never too many?) supplies I have on hand, 57% adapting said design to what I want to accomplish, 10% making my prototype and saying "huh--that's going to be easy!" 15% cutting all the paper for the 6 or 8 cards I want to make of that design, and 14% realizing that anything you make in bulk always takes hours longer than the kids are willing to wait for dinner.  Which all adds up to 124 percent, which is why you should never sell your handmade cards cheap, or give them to people who will not treasure them forever.

  Last week my wonderful Stampin' Up manager, Brenda, surprised me and the rest of her group with a challenge in the mail.  Inside an envelope, she sent a couple of blank folded Whisper White cards, a few slices of the new Stampin' Up Gold Soiree DSP (Designer Series Paper for those who don't like acronyms) a couple of Gold Foil butterflies and a length of gold sequins.  We were invited to make two cards and send her one to be exchanged in a swap.

  Strangely, although the DSP is very spring-y in color and with the sweet floral print on one side, I took inspiration from a Halloween card that I had from last year for one card; and some scraps of black paper I had laying on my desk for the other.

The card, with it's three strips of DSP, is characteristic of what I often see Brenda do--she is great at joining several little samples of the DSPs on one attractive and harmonious design. 

    However, rather than use the cat card layout, I decided to go with the two thinner strips and a heavier one at right angles.  Left to myself, I would probably have used the new Stampin' Up! 1/8 " gold ribbon for the accent instead of the string of sequins, but I wanted to get into the spirit of the challenge, and work with what I had been given.

  The black & white card is a result of having those little black squares lying around. I could see the gold butterflies on a field of black and white; but as Brenda had provided us only two, and I didn't have any of the gold foil on hand, I though it would be nice to pair a gold butterfly on one field with that same colored butterfly on the opposite field. The fact that my 12-year-old son had been teaching his grandmother to play Texas Hold 'Em probably resulted in the Yin-Yang arrangement which resembles a playing card.  Only a day or two after I completed the card, did I find it funny that I chose the sentiment "friends" for two butterflies that are flitting away from each-other on fields of black and white.  Not sure what a friend would make of such a message.

As I was working on these two cards, I was mindful that I had just signed up for a swap that was due in a day or two.  I decided to use the layout I had come up with for the butterfly card, and make a holiday card to swap.  Here it is:  like it?
The designer series paper, and stamps are  in the current Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog; cardstock and ribbon in the regular catalog.
This card features

• Garden Green, Real Red, Whisper White cardstock
• Bauble from the Cheerful Christmas stamp set in clear-mount or wood-mount
• Nordic Noel Designer Series Paper
• 1/8" gold ribbon
• Metallic Gold Encore craft ink
• the "merry & bright" stamp is from a hostess set called "Good Greetings."  This fabulous set is available for free until October 31st as a bonus gift to any hostess who has a party with at least $300.-- in sales.  (Yes, bonus--that means in addition to the usual hostess freebies and discounts!) I love this set--ninteen stamps for all kinds of occasions, all in that totally fun and cute font.  I'm going to be using it forever.

To purchase these or any other Stampin' Up! supplies, please click here.
If you would like to schedule a Stampin' Up! party, or if you have any questions, please contact me.
 Happy Stamping!
Gosia